Love all your hops equally! No favoritism and no neglect. You probably got a 'runt' in the bunch. Runts are like underdogs and many times the underdog pulls through and becomes your best plant. You may be surprised. Just an observation.

I started with 3 plants and 1 of them had some problems starting out. It has been consistently smaller and weaker-looking than the other two. However, at year 3 last year, it was plenty big enough and produced pretty well.
Eventually they will all spread out and grow enough roots to survive.

i had two centennial that barely sprouted in year one and I wrote them off as dead when the whole top part died in July. they both came back in year two and produced an hops. they are both back this year and are already about one foot tall. don't worry, show them love and they will return the favor.

I started this year with 11 centennial. split and planted 39 i think(never plant drunk you forget 2 keep tract of exact #'s)never give up. well ok 2 yrs after original planting and nothing then give up.